


The Thing About Dreams

by Welcome_to_bobloblawslawblog



Category: Voltron: Defender of the Universe, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), College AU, F/M, Gay Keith (Voltron), Keith is a rock climber, Lance is a hipster that works at a coffee shop, M/M, Modern AU, Slow Burn, coffee shop AU, theyre both pining messes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2017-03-02
Packaged: 2018-09-21 12:41:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9549605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Welcome_to_bobloblawslawblog/pseuds/Welcome_to_bobloblawslawblog
Summary: Keith is studying Geology as a freshman at university, and when he's not studying, he's working, and when he's not working, he's rock climbing. He knows he needs to get his degree, but all he really wants to do is spend his time outdoors and travel the world.Lance works at a coffee shop near a college campus, trying to decide what he wants to do with his life.The two seem to always run into each other, and eventually develop a unique friendship, each helping the other discover their purpose in life.





	1. The Lines of the Cars

**Author's Note:**

> I have a lot of plans for this story, but I'm horrible at introductions (and summaries)...  
> This is one of my first fics, so some friendly criticism would be highly appreciated :-)  
> I've been trying to make myself post this for about a week now, but I've been too nervous. But here it is! I hope you enjoy it, because I'm very excited for it. 
> 
> The name of the fic is based off a song by The Airborne Toxic Event, as is the chapter title (both are very beautiful songs). I'm planning on having each chapter being named after a different song depending on what happens in each chapter.

“Don’t forget to read chapters 1-3 by Wednesday, we will be discussing catastrophism and uniformitarianism.” Keith sighed deeply as he slid his books into his backpack, listening as his professor told them their homework. “You’re not in high school anymore, so I expect you to come prepared!”. Slowly pushing through the group of excited freshmen exiting the classroom, Keith made his way towards the front of the classroom.  
“Professor Coran, I’m Keith Kogane, I’m looking forward to this semester with you.” Keith said, extending his hand. Ever since Keith had gotten accepted to the university Shiro had just graduated from, he wouldn’t leave Keith alone about making good first impressions on the professors. The first step: introducing yourself, and making sure the professor knows you. Eyes widening, Professor Coran enthusiastically shook Keith’s hand.  
“Ah, my boy! Your brother mentioned you would be coming here, although I did not realize you were in my class. But needless to say, I’m glad that you are; Shiro has told me great things about you.”  
Keith smiled politely and released his hand from Coran’s tight grip. He didn’t realize Shiro would have spoken so highly of him. It’s not that they didn’t get along - Shiro was a better brother than Keith could ever have hoped for - but their relationship hadn’t been it’s strongest the past few years. Keith knew it was his fault, but he wasn’t ready to admit that yet. But he shouldn’t be surprised that Shiro would put in a good word for him; Shiro would do anything for Keith despite everything else.  
“Well, hopefully I can live up to your expectations.”  
After a quick goodbye, Keith starts to head toward the door, eager to get the rest of his first day over with. 

 

Keith had always heard syllabus day would be the easiest day of the semester; if that’s the case, he doesn’t want to know what the rest of the days are going to be like. He only had three classes today, and he was already drowning in homework.  
Climbing into his car, Keith pulled out his phone to check the time. 2:00. Three hours before his first shift at his new job. Keith had spent all summer worrying about where he would work this semester, knowing he needed some way to buy food, but every job he applied for never responded. Well, accept for the coffee shop Shiro had told him about, but they turned Keith away. Thankfully he had a friend from his old climbing gym who had moved here a few months ago, and she was able to get him a job at the new gym she works at.  
Turning on his Jeep, which was just about as old as him, Keith pulled out of the parking lot and started to head downtown. He was still bitter that the coffee shop didn’t hire him, but he wanted to see what made it so great. Shiro told him all about it, saying it was the best coffee he would ever taste, they play good music, and the staff is great. But Keith thinks the real reason Shiro likes it was because he met Allura there, even if it took him almost two years of buying coffee multiple times a week before he finally asked her out.  
About ten minutes later, Keith found an empty parking space on the side of the busy street, and it took about five more minutes to fit into the tight space. Keith may have a lot of talents, but parallel parking definitely was not one of them. Finally, Keith climbed out of his car to admire his work; the car was parked crooked in the space, with the tail end still over the line, and the front almost over the curb. Letting out a frustrated groan, Keith gave up and began to scan the row of buildings for the coffee shop.  
The main street had an old time feel, with rustic brick buildings lining the cobble stone street, and each shop with a modest townhouse above it. Pulling out his phone, he sends a text to Pidge.  
**Sent: You weren’t kidding when you said downtown was beautiful.**  
Keith continued down the sidewalk, taking in the peaceful feeling of the town, when his phone buzzes with a message from Pidge.  
**Pidge Holt: I told you!!**  
**Pidge Holt: Are you excited for you first shift tonight? The boss says I’ll get to train you >:) **  
**Sent: Oh great, you’ll probably teach me all the wrong things to make me look like idiot**  
**Pidge Holt: Hey now, I’m the one who got you this job, you should be nice to me.**  
**Pidge Holt: but you’re not wrong…**  
**Pidge Holt: just kidding**  
**Pidge Holt: or am I ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)**

Chuckling softly to himself, Keith slid his phone back into his pocket.  
He finds the coffee shop tucked between an antique shop and an old cinema which is advertising for a Frankenstein film. Keith adds the cinema to his mental list of things to do this semester, even if he has to go alone. Although if they’re showing something cool, he could probably convince Pidge to come along. 

Keith pushed open the doors to the coffee shop, and was hit with an overwhelmingly sweet smell of coffee and pastries. Almost immediately, he understood the appeal Shiro saw in this place. In one corner was a couch with mounds of pillows; in front of it, a small coffee table with a stack of old classics. The other corner has a few small wooden tables, with mismatching wooden chairs. The back wall is the same rustic brick outside, and the two other walls are white shabby-chic wooden panels. Christmas lights are strung across the ceiling, giving a sense of serenity and comfort.  
As he approached the counter, he continued to look around, noticing acrylic paintings hung in various places on the walls.  
Keith stands at the counter, waiting for someone to take his order, but he doesn't see anyone. Hearing a shuffling sound, Keith leans over the counter, and sees someone crouched down, rearranging what he guesses is a shelf beneath the counter. Keith clears his throat to make the barista aware of his existence, and the boy immediately stands up… or at least he tries to. He hears a loud klunk, followed by a “Fu- Shit!” and a pained groan. The boy, it seems, did not bother removing himself from under the counter before standing up, resulting in him smashing his head. Rubbing his head, he stood up and faced Keith. “Ugh shit- sorry, I didn’t know someone was here.”  
The boy was maybe two inches taller than Keith, with tan skin and short brunette hair. Soft freckles were splayed across his nose and cheeks, and Keith tried not to notice the different shades of deep blue in his eyes. He must’ve been staring a little too long, because the boy spoke up.  
“Can I help you? Or did I just smash my head into the counter for nothing.”  
“Oh, uh sorry” Keith stammered, coming back to his senses. “yeah, I’ll just have a coffee.”  
“…Anything else? Cream? Sugar? Milk? All of the above?”  
“I’m lactose intolerant.”  
“Almond milk?”  
“Just black coffee.”  
They boy scoffed and mumbled something under his breath.  
“What was that?” Keith said, arching an eyebrow.  
“Nothing, it’s just that you look like someone who would drink plain black coffee.”  
Keith crosses his arms and takes a step back. “Oh yeah? How so?”  
The boy smirks, turning his attention from the coffee machine to Keith. “You have a mullet” he states matter of factly.  
“What does that have to do with anything!?”  
“You’re wearing a band t-shirt… that is a band right?” the boy adds, nodding towards Keith’s black shirt, which says _The Airborne Toxic Event_ with a crow getting shot by an arrow.  
Keith sighs. “Yes it’s a band”, his favorite band, actually, “but I don’t see what that has to do with anything. Can I just have my coffee please?”  
“Yeah yeah yeah, it’s coming.”  
The boy handed him his coffee in a to-go cup, the corners of his mouth turned up in a slight smile as he did so. “Enjoy your plain black coffee, Mullet boy.”  
Keith rolled his eyes as he pulled some cash out of his wallet. “My name isn’t mullet boy.”  
“Well, what is it then?” he asks, counting the change.  
“Keith.”  
The boy hands him back his change with a small smile. Keith doesn’t understand why he’s always smiling, even after smashing his head on the counter.  
“Well then Keith, enjoy you coffee.”  
Keith drops the change in the tip jar, although he knows he’ll regret it later in the semester when he’s in need of money.  
“Aww, thanks Mullet!”  
Keith glowered at him, but couldn’t stay mad when he saw the bright look on the boy’s face.  
“I literally just told you my name.” Keith said, although not angrily. “And I only added the tip because you slammed your head.”  
The boy’s smile grew wider, and it must’ve been contagious because Keith couldn’t help but smile a little too.  
“Nice to know you care.” the boy replies, leaning his elbow on the counter and resting his chin on his hand.  
Distracted by his blue eyes and freckles, Keith managed to stutter a response. “I- I never said I cared.”  
But the the smile was still on his face as he turned to leave. 

 

At about 10:45, Keith unlocked the door to his dorm, and stumbled in collapsing onto his bed. He rolled over and reached down the side of his bed, searching for his phone charger. Keith had applied to have his own private dorm room, and by some miracle was able to get it. Throughout high school, one thing he always dreaded was having to deal with a roommate in college. He was accustomed to sharing rooms; growing up, he was always in a room with at least one other person. But once he was adopted, he discovered how much he loved actually having privacy for once, and he didn't want to give that up just because he was going to college.  
After plugging his phone into the charger, he opened a message from Shiro.  
Shrio: How’d the first day go?  
Sent: Not too bad. Professor Coran likes me a lot, and I’m pretty sure I have the best job ever.  
Keith wasn’t over exaggerating one bit; he truly believed he had the best possible job a college student could ask for. Firstly, he got to spend time at one of his favorite places; a climbing gym. Secondly, his job was basically to talk to people about rock climbing. Besides checking people in and selling things, he got paid to walk around and help people with certain moves, or just make conversation. It seemed as if everyone knew each other, and Pidge was basically friend’s with all the members. And thirdly, he got to work with his best friend. Keith hadn’t seen Pidge since she moved here four months ago, and now they would see each other multiple times a week. Although she was only a junior in high school, she was wise beyond her years. Pidge claims it’s because she’s been homeschooled basically her whole life, but Keith says it’s because he’s been her friend so long and he’s had a good influence on her.  
Another perk of working at a rock climbing gym: so, so many hot guys. Of course Keith had not yet admitted that he liked that aspect of his job, but deep down he knew he appreciated it. He figured there was just something about rock climbing that attracted all the good looking people. But despite all the different guys he had met at the gym that night, only one stood out in his mind, one that he didn’t even meet at work.  
He realized he didn’t know the boy’s name.  
Jumbled in his thoughts of his new job and his classes, he couldn’t help but think of those deep blue eyes as he drifted off to sleep, overcome by dreams.


	2. Desire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter title is named after a song by The Gaslight Anthem, because it totally reminds me of pining Keith. 
> 
> Sorry it took me so long to update! I didn't have much motivation and school has been crazy. But I had a five hour drive with nothing to do, and actually figured out what I want to do with this story! So now I'm really excited for it. 
> 
> Quick key for grade levels for routes in rock climbing:  
> V0 - super easy  
> V1 - kinda easy  
> V2 - a bit challenging  
> V3 - pretty hard  
> V4 - difficult  
> V5 - really difficult  
> and everything past that is just really really hard.

After two weeks of classes, Keith was starting to form a routine. His life consisted of waking up early, going to classes, going to work, and spending hours upon hours studying. Or at least, trying to study. He began to find himself at the coffee shop several times a week, where he would “study”, but it was more like sneaking glances at the boy behind the counter.  
And after two weeks, Keith still hadn’t asked the boy’s name. So he continued to think of him as “the boy”. The boy who always teased Keith’s hairstyle. The boy who teased Keith for liking black coffee. The boy with the prettiest eyes and dorkiest smile – no, Keith had to stop thinking of him like that. He doesn’t even know his name!

Keith pulled into his regular parking spot; he was getting better at this whole parallel parking thing, but it still wasn’t pretty.  
Rubbing his heavy lidded eyes, Keith considered staying in his car to take a nap. He quickly learned that there was no such thing as going to bed early at college, and sleeping in wasn’t an option very often. Forcing himself out of his car, he walked up the sidewalk towards the coffee shop. Feeling his phone vibrate, Keith pulled out his phone to see a message from Shiro. He hadn’t really been very good about keeping in touch with his family since getting to school, but he thought it was for the best.  
**Shiro: Coran told me you’re going to be helping him with some research? ******  
Coran, Keith’s Intro to Geology professor, had become increasingly impressed with Keith’s performance in the first two weeks of class, and asked him to help him perform research up in the mountains. Keith was convinced that Coran was biased, and only thought Keith was performing so well because he was Shiro’s brother. Needless to say, Keith was looking forward to it. He would be taking a weekend trip about once a month to collect data on seemingly new species of semi-aquatic turtle. His job was to find how the changing environment may have led to this new species.  
Keith pushed open the doors to the coffee shop, and saw that it was not Lance behind the counter as usual, but someone he had not yet met before.  
“Welcome to The Morning Grind!” the guy behind the counter said enthusiastically. He had broad shoulders and a huge smile.  
“How can I help you?”  
“I’ll just have plain black coffee please.”  
“Wait… are you Keith?” the guy asked, arching an eyebrow.  
Keith was taken by surprise. How would this guy know who he is? They’ve never even met before.  
He must’ve seen the concerned look on Keith’s face, because he quickly explained himself.  
“Sorry, that came out kind of creepy” he added with a small laugh. “Lance told me about you.”  
“Lance?” After a moment, Keith realized that must be the boy’s name.  
“Yeah, my coworker. The guy who’s usually here at this time.”  
_Lance. ___  
“Oh, of course.”  
Why had Lance been talking about him? The thought made Keith’s stomach flip. But Keith didn’t know if it was a good thing. What was Lance saying about him? He had to have been making fun of him. As the other guy handed him his coffee, he added “I’m Hunk by the way. It’s nice to actually meet you.” He said it as if he’s known about him for a long time, which confused Keith even more.  
Keith smiled a little as he handed Hunk his debit card to pay. “Yeah, you too Hunk.”  
“Oh, and uh, could you do me a favor? Don’t tell Lance I said he told me about you… Now that I think about it I don’t think I was supposed to say anything.”  
Now Keith was really confused. Just as he opened his mouth to say something, someone flung open the door to the coffee shop and ran in. He turned around to see Lance, his cheeks were flushed, and his chest was raising and falling from breathing heavily. He hurried behind the counter, pausing a moment to catch his breath.  
“Hunk – thank you so much for covering for me man” he said between breaths.  
After Hunk reassured him that is was completely fine, Lance turned to Keith.  
“Oh, hey Keith!”  
Lance smiled at him, and Keith felt heat rise to his cheeks. Hunk looked between the two of them, patted Lance’s shoulder and headed to the back of the shop.  
“Are you staying to study today?” Lance asked him, a smile still resting on his face, which was still red.  
“I’ve actually got to go to work early today, so I was just about to head out.” Keith responded, averting his gaze from Lance’s bright smile and blue eyes.  
Lance’s smile seemed to falter a bit. Was he upset that Keith had to leave? Keith tried not to overthink it.  
But just as soon as it disappeared, that smile was right back on his face.  
“I bet you work at a music store. Do you work at the one right down the street?”  
“Why do you assume I work at a music store?”  
“You look like a drummer!” Lance said enthusiastically. “C’mon, you always wear a band t-shirt, and that mullet of yours just makes you look like you’re in a garage band or something.”  
Keith tipped is head back and groaned “Not this again. Besides, there is nothing wrong with wearing band t-shirts!”  
“I never said there was, it actually suites you quite well.”  
Keith felt his blush deepen, and cleared his throat. “I- I’ve got to get going, I’m gonna be late for work.”  
As he opened the door, he heard Lance call out to him.  
“Wait!”  
Taken by surprise, Keith turned to look back at Lance.  
Lance paused a moment, as if he hadn’t planned what to say.  
“Uh, where do you work then?”  
“Altea Climbing.” Keith responded, wondering why Lance would care.  
Lance straightened his back a bit more, smiling even wider. “Hey I’ve been there, it’s awesome!”  
Keith smiled. He seemed to do that a lot when he was talking to Lance. “Yeah? You should stop by sometime. I usually work evenings.” And with that, he turned and walked out the door, leaving Lance a blushing mess behind the counter. 

Standing in front of the computer, Keith robotically entered in names, addresses, and birthdays into customer’s accounts, exhaustion slowly creeping in. There was almost always a stack of waivers that needed to be entered into the computer when Keith got to work, he was starting to think that all his coworkers just left them for him to do. He quickly discovered that being the new employee included doing all the jobs no one else wanted to do, like entering waivers, scanning documents, and vacuuming after closing. Despite the many households he’d lived in and amount of vacuuming he’d done in the past, Keith was positive that the climbing gym had the worst vacuum he had ever seen. It was a large heavy duty vacuum from the 80’s, barely worked, and was impossible to maneuver; every night after closing was a fight over who has to do it.  
As he entered waiver after waiver into the computer, Keith’s mind began to drift. Had he just flirted with Lance? Was that flirting? Surely it wasn’t. All he did was tell him where he worked. That definitely wasn’t flirting. Although Keith did tell tell him to stop by. It’s not like he would though; Lance was probably a busy guy, and he surely had more important ways to spend his time than stopping by to visit some random dude that buys coffee from him.  
“Earth to Keith... Keith!”  
Keith jumped and looked away from the computer, startled by Pidge’s voice.  
“When did you get here?” he asked her, trying to hide the surprise in his voice.  
“I’ve been standing here for like five minutes” she replied, crossing her arms. “and you, are not paying any attention to what you’re doing.”  
“What do you mean? Of course I am!” Keith said defensively.  
“Then explain to me why you entered that person’s birthday into the name slot, their name into the phone number slot, and their birthday into the email slot.” Pidge raised an eyebrow at him. “Where were you going to put the email??”  
“I.. Uh… I’ll fix that.” Keith went to fix his mistakes, cursing himself for getting distracted by thoughts of some boy, and praying that he hadn’t screwed up the rest of the waivers.  
“What’s distracting you?” Pidge asked, curiosity in her voice. “Is it… a boy?”  
Keith didn’t say anything, pretending to be entirely focused on the computer screen.  
“It is a boy, isn’t it!”  
“No.” Keith felt that he didn’t need to tell her about Lance, it’s not like anything would happen between them. The guy was a jerk anyway!  
“Did you meet someone in one of your classes?”  
“ _No ___.” he said again, feeling heat rise to his cheeks. Yeah he met a boy, but not in one of his classes, so he decided that wasn’t lying.  
Pidge stopped prodding him and went to help some members work on their climbing routes, while Keith spent the next hour fixing all the waivers he had messed up.  
Just as he entered the information from the last waiver into the computer, Keith heard the door beep as someone walked in. He looked up from the computer to see two people walk in, and his heart skipped a beat. Lance and Hunk approached the counter, both smiling at something one of them had said. Keith felt as if someone turned the heat on in the gym rather than the air conditioning. Before he could say anything, Pidge was at his side to save him.  
“Welcome to Altea Climbing!” she said enthusiastically “how can we help you?”  
Lance smiled at her, and said “hey, you were working last time I came here! This is my friend Hunk, he’s never been here before.”  
As Keith grabbed a waiver for Hunk to fill out, he heard Pidge and Hunk making easy conversation about some sort of high tech computer system like they’ve known each other for ages.  
“So..” Keith looked up at the sound of Lance’s voice, “This must be a pretty cool place to work.”  
Keith met Lance’s gaze. “It’s not too bad” Keith replied, trying to sound casual. Not able to think of anything else to say, Keith asked “Are you getting a day pass?”  
Lance gasped, pretending to be offended. “You’re gonna make me pay?”  
Keith smiled and shook his head. “You make me pay for my coffee.”  
“Whatever, that’s different.” Lance mumbled, dramatically rolling his eyes as he pulled out his wallet. Pidge was at Keith’s side in a second. “Wait a minute, do you guys know each other?”  
“Yeah, Keith’s the one that invited us!”  
Pidge looked between the two boys for a moment, eyes widening in realization. “Oh! So that’s why Keith was acting so–  
“ANYWAYS” Keith said loudly, knowing what Pidge was going to say next, and wanting to avoid that embarrassment at all costs. “Your day pass is $12, and I’ll throw the rental gear in for free.”  
“Aw thanks man!” Lance said, a smile spreading across his face. “I’m gonna pay for Hunk too though”.  
“Oh” Keith said quietly, wondering if there was something going on between the two of them. They didn’t act like anything other than really close friends, but Keith couldn’t be sure.  
“Are you two…?” Keith didn’t finish his sentence, looking at Lance.  
“What? No!” Lance laughed, “he’s just my best friend, and I’ve gotta pay him back for covering for me when I was running late today.”  
Keith felt a flood of relief as he rang Lance up for two day passes. As Pidge helped them find climbing shoes that fit, Keith cleared his throat, hoping his voice wouldn’t crack. “If you need help with any routes, let me know” Apparently that was the wrong thing to say, because Lance’s eyebrows furrowed and he squinted at Keith.  
“You don’t think I’ll be able to do it?” he challenged.  
“Wha- No! That’s not- That’s not what I –  
“Well thank you very much but I’m not going to be needing any help.” Lance interrupted, crossing his arms. Hunk, on the other hand seemed to appreciate Keith’s gesture, saying “Thanks man, I’ll take you up on that offer, I’m totally gonna need help.”  
“Hunk! I’ll be able to help you too! I’m a great climber.”  
Hunk laughed at Lance, commenting about how he has never even heard Lance mention rock climbing in his life.  
As the two walked into the gym, Keith sat on the desk behind the counter, put his head in his hands and groaned in spite of himself. He hadn’t meant to offend Lance, that was the last thing he wanted to do. He decided he should never attempt to flirt again, because obviously he didn’t know how, and it would just end in a disaster. When he looked back up, Pidge was standing with her hands on her hips, looking at him expectantly with a raised eyebrow.  
“Don’t you dare say anything” Keith growled, glowering at her.  
“Wasn’t going to.” Pidge smirked. 

Working at a climbing gym, Keith had discovered how many people thought climbing was easy. He couldn’t help but feel slightly irritated hearing people talk about how easy it was going to be for them, despite the fact they had never climbed before. But he was always amused to see them struggling with a V0 - the easiest routes - only a few minutes later. His favorite were the people coming from the Cross Fit gym. Over the past few weeks, he had met so many who would strut into the climbing gym like they owned the place. “Man, I lift everyday, this is gonna be a piece of cake” he’d hear them say. Him and Pidge would have to hold back their laughter when they could barely get themselves off the ground. Who knew their ridiculous amount of muscles would only weigh them down, making it harder? Not them apparently.  
Lance, on the other hand, wasn’t lying when he said he could climb. Of course he wasn’t incredible, but for someone who had only climbed once, Lance was impressive. He relied more on technique than strength alone, which was rare in new climbers. As Keith made his routine round through the gym, he paused as Lance made his way up a difficult V3. Gripping a small hold with his left hand, Lance balanced on his right foot to reach for the next hold. Keith felt heat return to his face once again as he watched the muscles shift under the tan skin of Lance’s shoulders (why did he have to be wearing a tank top?). As Lance’s fingers reached for the next hold with his right hand, his foot slipped and he fell to the cushiony pad below him. Hunk was by his side immediately, helping Lance to his feet as he let out a frustrated groan. Keith approached the two of them tentatively, unsure if he should interfere.  
“Uh, if you want, I could give you some tips on how to get that move?” Keith said, nodding towards the wall. “It’s pretty tricky.”  
“I don’t need help, Mullet” Lance responded with a light laugh, before starting the route again.  
Keith rolled his eyes and sighed, ready to head back to the desk in case Pidge needed help with anything. Before he could get anywhere, Lance fell at the same move as before. Hunk leaned closer to Keith and murmured “Don’t go anywhere yet, I have a feeling he will be needing help very soon.”  
Sure enough, after two more tries Lance turned to Keith, defeated.  
“Fine, what do I have to do?” Keith could hear a tinge of annoyance in Lance’s voice, but he decided to ignore it. Keith explained that Lance had the right idea, balancing on his left foot and reaching with his right hand. He then climbed up to the spot where Lance was getting stuck, and showed him how to accomplish the move. Instead relying solely on his left foot on that hold, he placed his right foot against the wall, giving him more balance as he reached for the next hold. Pulling himself close to the wall, Keith pinched the small hold, completing the route. A pretty simple move, but Keith could understand how it would be difficult for a new climber.  
“Using that right foot on the wall really gives you lots of support, even if there isn’t a hold there.”  
Lance nodded, his face slightly pink. Keith couldn’t decide if it was from embarrassment or because he was tired.  
Pausing right before making the final move, Keith noticed Lance take a deep breath. Lance slowly moved his right foot out against the wall, and pushing his left toe deeper into the hold and pulling himself closer to the wall, he reached up and grabbed the last hold. He let out a whoop of excitement and jumped down to the mat.  
“Aw yeah, nice job man!” Hunk exclaimed excitedly, giving Lance a high five. A smile bigger than Keith had ever seen was painted across Lance’s face. Keith almost wanted to look away, it was so bright.  
“That.. That was pretty awesome” Keith added, a small smile tugging at his lips.  
“Thanks dude. And uh, I appreciate the help.” Lance said, turning to look at Keith. “I mean, I would’ve gotten it eventually” he added.  
Keith let out a breathy laugh and smiled. “Of course you would’ve.” 

Keith made his way back to the counter to help Pidge with some customers that had just come in. After they went into the gym, Pidge turned to Keith.  
“Showing off now, are you?”  
“What??”  
“I saw you out there! Since when do you actually get on the wall to help someone with a move?”  
“I always do that!” Keith defended himself.  
“You’ve never done that!”  
Keith felt a blush rise to his face, and murmured an “I hate you” to her. Pidge laughed in response, patting Keith on the shoulder before going to walk around the gym. 

An hour later, Lance and Hunk began to gather their things, ready to leave. They came to the counter with their gear, handing it to Keith and Pidge.  
“Hey, thanks a lot guys” Lance said to the two of them.  
“Yeah it was a ton of fun” Hunk added, a big smile on his face.  
“You guys should consider getting a membership so you can come more often” Pidge said casually, living up to her hard earned title as top salesperson at Altea Climbing.  
“You know, I think I will.” Lance said, glancing at Keith out of the corner of his eye.  
After they walked out the door, Pidge turned to him.  
“You’re welcome” she said, a smug smile upon her face.  
“What for?” Keith asked, raising an eyebrow.  
“Because he’s going to get a membership because of me!”  
Keith laughed, shaking his head. He wouldn’t admit it, but deep down he knew he was grateful, not to mention a little excited to see Lance more than just at the coffee shop. Maybe they’d become friends, and who knows where that could lead… Keith stopped himself before that thought could go any further. 

The rest of the night went with ease, and Pidge and Keith were able to leave by 10:15, which was pretty good timing. When Keith got back to his room, he looked at his phone to see multiple messages from Shiro.  
**18:25- How’s your day going? ******  
**19:06- Mom says you’ve only called her once since you got to college ******  
**19:15- Keith I know you’re busy with school and work but you really need to try and keep a relationship with your family. Especially mom, after everything that’s happened. She misses you. ******  
Keith sighed, dropping his phone onto his bed. Shiro was right. He really hadn’t made any attempt to keep in touch with Shiro and his mom. Shiro said that everything that happened should be the reason Keith tries to keep in touch, but that’s exactly the reason he feels he should keep his distance. Both of them had tried their hardest to reassure Keith that it wasn’t his fault, what had happened. But he knew it was. And he knew that if he hadn’t been so selfish things would be much different. And his family would be happier. And his mom wouldn’t be alone right now.  
As the familiar feeling of emptiness returned, Keith went across the hallways to the shower he shared with two other people on his floor. Turning the water as hot as it goes, Keith closed his eyes, letting the water trickle down his skin. He would call her tomorrow. And he would try harder with his relationship with Shiro. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of these days I'll right a long chapter... Anyways, thank you so much for reading! Hopefully it was better than last chapter... but now that I have actual plans for it I think it will continue to improve. I'm always open to some helpful criticism :-)

**Author's Note:**

> Wow that seemed a lot longer when it was in a word document... Chapter 2 will be coming soon! And so far it is going to be both longer and better written.   
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
